Generally, Acoustic musical instruments produce sounds that are audible to the human ear and travel from the instrument or other sound source through propagation of pressure and velocity waves, typically through the atmosphere. These waves include material particles made up of atoms. For example, mono-atomic Hydrogen gas atoms, a component of the atmosphere, have a positively charged central nucleus and an orbiting negatively charged electron cloud. This spatial separation of charge in each atom creates an electric field, even though the atom or particle itself may be electrically neutral. Charge neutrality, however, ensures that the electric field operates only over a very short distance.
Generally, a musical field is a field that can be exploited to create music. Musicality is a subjective property and, as such, can only be determined by listening to the behavior in question. However, since Acoustic fields are known to be musical, other fields capable of solutions found in Acoustic systems are also musical.
For example, Acoustic exhibit highly similar resonance behavior inside closed cavities, as described in more detail below.
Conventional musical instrument development has attempted to create new behaviors and new sounds, from both a purely Acoustic and electro-Acoustic perspective. For example, modern drums have developed significantly since the early invention of the first drum. Similarly, the invention of the electric guitar provided an entirely new palette of sonic options. The versatility of the electric guitar stems, in part, from its ability to encode the fundamentally Acoustic vibration of a string into an electrical signal. The resultant electrical signal can then be routed through any number of electrical devices that purposely affect the waveform of the electrical signal to create new sounds.
For example, as described above, a common musical effect is “distortion.” Distortion can be achieved by applying an electrical signal to a transistor, and driving the transistor through voltage swings greater than the operational range of the transistor. Other well-known effects can be produced through a combination of transistors, capacitors, vacuum tube amplifiers, inductors, and other suitable electrical and/or electronic devices.
Likewise, the development of conventional computer systems allowed for even further development of new sounds. For example, the modem personal computer allows for manipulation of digital signals. Input signals can be converted from analog to digital signals, manipulated, and then either played directly or converted back to analog signals for listening. In some instances, the input signals are generated by the computer system itself, based on mathematical models of known Acoustic systems. In fact, entire compositions have been produced wholly through conventional computer-simulated Acoustic-based instruments.
Recent developments in modern musical instruments have applied techniques to manipulate Acoustic signals. While transistors, capacitors, and other like devices are Electromagnetic systems, the underlying musical behavior is founded on the original Acoustic field behavior. In other words, a substantially Acoustic signal is converted to an electric representation of that signal and then manipulated by electronic devices. Similarly, computer-generated music is essentially a simulation and/or manipulation of fundamentally Acoustic field behavior. The musical behavior of Electromagnetic fields generally, or even the particular Electromagnetic fields associated with typical modern musical instruments, however, remains untapped.
There is therefore a need for Electromagnetic musical instrument systems and methods.